You may notice from my picture above, that today was a particularly troubling day for me. I had a revelation.
I was on a website and saw this model and it just hit me- I’m never going to be one. Like, I’m always going to be 5’3” from here on out and that’s never going to be model material.
Perhaps I took my mother’s inspiring words “you can be whatever you want to be,” a little to seriously, for a bit too long, but I thought maybe one day…you know? Turns out it’s never.
I’m totally fine with the way I look. That’s not what this is about. It’s about me thinking that I just hadn’t hit my model stride, that I believe everyone deserves. When I was in middle school, I think I just thought you became a model when your awkward stages finally lifted.
Why won’t mine lift?
Dear Fitz,
I am a professional freelance photographer. I have worked for several smaller clothing lines, as well as larger companies like Philips and I do all of the work for Snorgtees.com
I work FREQUENTLY with models who are under the normal “model” size. In fact, one of my most POPULAR models is only 5 Feet 1 Inch.
The “I need to be tall to be a model” myth is slowly dying. No, a short model will never be a high-fashion or runway model, but with many other genres (beauty, glamour, commercial, lifestyle, art, etc) available to models, there are plenty of opportunities for anyone to do it.
To me, dreams like this aren’t made out of glass. They aren’t either together or shattered. To me, dreams are made out of play-doh… sometimes they seem unrealistic, or impossible, but it’s OK to mold the dream a little, change it just a bit, add to it, or take something away - in the end it’s still the same dream.
Ryan
